Saturday, April 30, 2016

I've been making my way through the shoulder season, that time period between the end of classes and school-related obligations and the beginning of a new spring/summer vibe. It can actually be a bit of an exhausting and somewhat frustrating time. I'm all excited to be done with school for spring/summer to begin but don't quite know how I want my days to unfold.

One of my final obligations to school was to run a creative nonfiction workshop for "gifted" 5th graders. I used the six-word memoir as my focus, and as a teacher, offered my own memoirs, one of which was "Write stories, make things, cycle daily" (the one from later in the day was "There's a reason I teach university" - you can get a sense of how I was feeling). I think the first memoir is a pretty good indication of how I'd like my days to go.

I like a little bit of a framework for my days; I can get a little overwhelmed when I have too many options of what I'm going to do. It may sound strange (or sad), but I need just a little structure to my days even if I opt to ignore it. I like options. So the shoulder season is about balancing freedom with framework.

It feels like I'm coming out of the other side of the season now. There's lots to do (like the roof!), but my days are my own to schedule (of course taking into consideration the ladyfriend and our collaborative/combined obligations). I spent some time at the studio yesterday sewing, and today I'm headed to the Toronto Knitters Frolic. Yes, frolicking seems to be in order. I'm going to frolic my way through the rest of the shoulder season and into a new season filled with writing, making, and being!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Yep, I've amassed enough links to get a post out to you. It's not that I don't find a lot of interesting things on the web, but many of them come from the same blogs I mention repeatedly here, so I try to come up with something new or maybe something from a blog you'd forgotten about.

First off, Michael Pollan is my intellectual crush, which should be common knowledge. But before I fell for Pollan, I was all about Alton Brown. I loved Good Eats and have them on DVD (oh yeah!). My love was rekindled by this interview. I hope there's no jealousy between Michael and Alton; not interested in that drama.

It's spring (or at least what they keep trying to tell us in Southwestern Ontario), and time to shift the menus to reflect the seasonal produce. We get ramps at the coop and farmers' markets here, and I haven't quite maximized their potential. Serious Eats has a guide for that.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Item one for consideration is a cowl. It has sat in my "to be worked upon/finished/something" cupboard for probably a year at least. I'd run out of yarn (having used some yarn leftover from another project) while binding off the stitches. I joked about this to Karen, saying I should just bind off those stitches with some of the leftover chartreuse yarn from my socks. She replied, "Of course!" and reminded me all about the whole wabi-sabi thing. So there, my cowl waited for a year because there were 26 stitches left unbound. 26 stitches. Really.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Just found out that April is 30 Days of Biking. I'm all over it! Topaz came home from a tune-up yesterday, and I brought my Brompton home from London. I'll be posting cycling images on Instagram. Get on your bike and ride!

"I, Claudia of @proper_tension and propertension.blogspot.com, sign up as
a participant of Me-Made-May '16. I endeavour to wear at least one
me-made foundation item (like top, skirt, etc., but not including
accessories or socks) each day for the duration of May 2016."

You, too, can sign up. Just go to So, Zo...What Do You Know? , the originator of Me-Made-May. Everything about Me-Made-May is discussed and clarified. The challenge parameters are up to you. As I've recently noticed, I wear something I've made almost everyday although sometimes it's simply a scarf, hat, or socks, which is why I'm looking to up my game. Signing up is also meant as an incentive for me to finish some projects that are lingering.

Will you participate? (Okay, when I ask questions on my blog, I sometimes feel a little silly. It's clearly meant to prompt some comments, but I'm actually genuinely interested.)